Bulls' Dwyane Wade joins Carmelo Anthony in speaking out after Dallas shootings

Chicago Bulls guard Dwyane Wade joined New York Knicks star forward Carmelo Anthony in speaking out against recent gun violence that has dominated the news.

Both athletes expressed their demands for social change in the wake of police shootings of African-American men and the sniper who killed five white police officers in Dallas this week.

"The system is Broken," Anthony said Friday in an Instagram post. "Point blank period. It has been this way forever. Martin Luther King marched. Malcolm X rebelled. Muhammad Ali literally fought for US. Our anger should be towards the system. If the system doesn't change we will continue to turn on the TVs and see the same thing. We have to put the pressure on the people in charge in order to get this thing we call JUSTICE right."

Anthony called for professional athletes to take a stand as well.

"There's NO more sitting back and being afraid of tackling and addressing political issues anymore," he wrote. "Those days are long gone. We have to step up and take charge. We can't worry about what endorsements we gonna lose or whose going to look at us crazy. I need your voices to be heard. We can demand change. We just have to be willing to. THE TIME IS NOW. I'M all in."

Wade took a similar position Saturday, two days after the events in Dallas.

"As an athlete and as a person who has this platform, we like to sell things, we like to be on commercials, we like to do all these things," he said. "But when things come up in life I think you have a responsibility as a face of this world, if you believe in something to get behind that."

Wade led an effort in which he and his then-Miami Heat teammates wore hoodies in a team photo in protesting against the killing of unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin in 2012.

"It's awful," Wade said. "It's always been awful. Now because of all these cameras and social media, we're able to see it more. We have to do better. It's going to take certain people to lend their voice, lend their time to do that. I'm happy to say that I have friends that are willing to do that. We'll all get together to see what we can do and we can go from there."

Wade agreed to a free agent contract with the Bulls this week.